Hi John, On Fri, 21 Dec 2001 19:05:19 -0600, John Mustarde wrote:
> Your Sigma AF 400/5.6 APO Macro will be a pleasant surprise in terms > of sharpness and contrast. I'm quite sure it will blow the K-400/5.6 > and certainly the Tokina out of the water, especially wide open. Boy, John, I hope you're right. I'd love to find out that my technique isn't as bad as I thought but my 400 lenses aren't as good as I thought. :-) I think I'm going to try a couple of moon shots tomorrow night with the Sigma. If I think about it, I'll do some "side by side" comparison shots with the K 400. Since I don't have a tripod collar for the Tokina, I can't do side by sides for it. Speaking of taking moon photos, I'd appreciate comments on my plan of attack. I'll be using a heavy duty surveyor's tripod (aluminum, unfortunately). I may use a Bogen/Manfrotto 3262 ball head (the only head I have) or I may put the camera directly on the tripod and adjust the legs instead of using a head. I'll set the tripod up on earth rather than concrete. I'll ballast the tripod itself with a 40 pound (5 gallon) bucket of water hanging from the center "yoke" of the tripod. I'm not sure whether it's better to keep the ballast closer to the ground or the "yoke". I'll ballast the lens and camera with one or two 2# ankle weights. Either both over the tripod mount or one on the camera itself and one near the front of the lens. I'll use the Sigma with two Pentax 2X-S T/Cs. It looks like the lens would work with a 2X-L T/C, but I don't have one. :-( The body will be my LX, since I have the "magnifinder" (looking down into the top of the camera works better when it's elevated 30 or more degrees). I'll be using the "Moony 11" rule (like Sunny 16). That means a shutter speed 4/ASA since my effective aperture will be f/22. Or should that be 2/ASA? I'll have to do the math again. :-) I haven't decided on film yet. I've got the following in house: Portra 160NC, Royal Gold 100 and 400, T400CN, TriX, and Max 400. I'm thinking probably Portra or RG 100, or maybe TriX. All suggestions welcome. :-) TTYL, DougF - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
